Italy's Industrial Orders Drop In May On Weak Foreign Demand

        By Liam Moloney
        ROME--Italian industrial orders fell in May, reversing the strong gains seen the previous month, as foreign demand contracted while domestic orders inched slightly higher.
        Industrial orders slipped 2.5% on the month, national statistics institute Istat said Wednesday, using seasonally adjusted data. Monthly data can have strong swings as it can be affected by orders for large projects such as ships or trains.
        Foreign orders fell 6.3% from April, while domestic ones rose 0.3% in the period.
        Orders were 0.5% lower on the year in unadjusted terms, Istat added. Orders are a proxy for future industrial output, a key metric for Italy, which has Europe's second-largest manufacturing sector after Germany.
        Industrial sales gained 1.2% on the month in seasonally adjusted terms, with a 1.3% increase in foreign demand, Istat said.
        Sales rose 2.4% on the year in workday-adjusted terms, led by a 5.8% jump in foreign demand, according to Istat.
        In the first quarter of the year Italy emerged from its worst postwar recession, but domestic demand remains fragile, indicating a subdued gross domestic product growth in 2015.
        Last week, the Bank of Italy lifted its expected GDP growth forecast for the country this year to 0.7% from 0.5%.
        Write to Liam Moloney at liam.moloney@wsj.com
        (END) Dow Jones Newswires

        July 22, 2015 04:13 ET (08:13 GMT)

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